Homepage Changes Afoot

The front page at LOC.gov will be getting a bit of a facelift in a couple of weeks.? (In fact, the plan is to time it to the 20th anniversary of the Librarian of Congress’s tenure on Sept. 14.)

The changes won?t be radical, but we do hope they will be viewed as improvements.? You can expect to see more content that is also more dynamic, and better organized for the ways people typically use our Web site.

One major addition will be a new email-subscription service, as a supplement to the RSS feeds.? (In fact, at least initially, the email lists to which you can subscribe will essentially mirror the RSS feeds.)

While only a fraction of people on the Web use RSS feeds, something like 100 percent of them use email, and this is just another part of our efforts to get information to people in the way that is most useful to them.? You can get a sense for how the email updates will function by looking at the FBI?s Web site.

There will be additional changes and enhancements to the Web site ? with a particular emphasis on new ways to delve into and explore the collections ? as we prepare a new, interactive experience for visitors online and on-site, launching in spring 2008.

Within the next several days, I expect we also will be talking about a couple of new features on the Web site that will be aimed at younger audiences, both of which have a focus on reading and lifelong literacy.

9 Comments

The updating of the website can only improve the access to all the collections – and interactive sites are always positive in terms of younger readership. Children nowadays are in need of assistance to get them interested in history, government, etc. I believe the changes are a very positive step in the right direction. Wonderful site!

I’d say that the ability to create some interaction with a younger audience would be great. By exposing younger people you would hopefully develop some young historians and archive fans. Learn from the big business world of fast food, develop that brand loyality at an early age!

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